Professor Ma Yinan: 'The Pursuit of Women's Legal Rights Is My Life's Work'

Ma Yinan, a professor with Peking University Law School and Member of the Executive Committee of the All-China Women's Federation (ACWF), has engaged in the legislation on women's rights and protecting women's legal rights for several decades. 

Inspired by the Fourth World Conference on Women held in Beijing in 1995, Ma was engaged in the women-related law studies. She participated in drafting several major laws related to women's rights between 1995 and 2015. Especially, in the past five years, her legal research and practice have been closely relevant to women's work.

Ma has taken part in legal policy consultations, discussions, and gender equality assessments, and helped integrate gender equality into top-level policy design and implementation of legal policies.

She also took part in the compilation of the Civil Code, and completed a number of argumentation reports which provided theoretical support for the Civil Code and the improvement of laws and policies relatedto marriage and family.

"As a Member of the Executive Committee of the ACWF in the legal field, my duty is representing and protecting women's rights and interests, and promoting the formulation and implementation of laws and policies on gender equality," said Ma.

In the past five years, Ma has made great efforts in safeguarding women's property rights in marriage and their equal employment rights, improving women's participation in politics, protecting rural women's land rights, and preventing and curbing domestic violence and sexual harassment and abuse against women and children through educating and training judicial personnel and women cadres.

She also contributes to gender influence assessments of the Beijing's policies and regulations by serving as an expert in the committee of gender equality evaluation in laws and policiesin the capital.

"I was motived by the Fourth World Conference on Women to enter the field of women and the law, and today I'm still active in this field since it is my lifetime career," said Ma.

(Source: China Women's News/Translated and edited by Women of China)